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Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Fighting the Winter Blues

It's been awhile since I last blogged and it's definitely got something to do with the fact that this winter hasn't been one of my favorites. It's been a weirdly warm temperature for most of the season, fluctuating between the upper twenties and low thirties. The sun has rarely made an appearance. Everything is ice covered and the snow, which is always my favorite part, has been ridiculously lacking. On top of that, I'm enrolled in two graduate courses this semester and work has been overly stressful. To be quite frank, this winter has given me a case of the winter blues.

On Sunday, I hit a wall and decided that I needed to suck it up, throw on my ice cleats, and deal. Complaining was only taking me so far, and the dogs were feeling my stress too. Cody, Specks, Luna, and I headed out to one of our favorite hikes. The weather wasn't fantastic, and it was difficult to traverse the ice in places, but we did it and I felt much better afterwards.

Somehow, I always feel better after being outside. The dunes and frozen Lake Michigan served as a bit of a reminder of this truth. By the end of our walk I found myself feeling lighter than I'd felt in weeks. The heavy burden that I'd been feeling over the last weeks was lessened, as I should have known it would. I suppose I just needed to feel overwhelmed to remind myself that self-care is an important part of fighting the winter blues.Your turn...How do you fight the winter blues? Currently listening to...Sentimental Heart - She & Him

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